Growth Happens Here

That’s a tagline Cabarrus
Economic Development Corporation (EDC) uses to promote Cabarrus County and the
realm of business opportunities here.

Robert Carney Jr. serves as executive
director of the EDC, whose role is to both entice new businesses into locating
here and partner with existing businesses in expansion and services like
workforce assistance and the grant process, among others.

So, what employers make up the top 10 in
Cabarrus County (as of August 2017) and what types of jobs do they offer? Not
surprisingly, Atrium Health leads the way, employing 4,500 people. S&D
Coffee & Tea is next, with 1,100; Amazon: 1,000; Speedway Motorsports Inc.:
1,000; Shoe Show: 750; ACN: 600; Corning Inc.: 600; Hendrick Motorsports: 600;
Great Wolf Lodge & Resort: 500; and Sysco: 500. The EDC points out that
this list does not include governmental or school system jobs.

While Atrium employees come in the form
of administrative, maintenance, marketing and medical personnel, a job at
S&D could be as a coffee packer, sanitation associate or project engineer.
Companies like Amazon, Shoe Show, Corning and Sysco encompass manufacturing but
the size of all 10 companies obviously dictates inner workings like human
resources, retail, tourism, automotive fleets, IT, payroll, etc.

To get a more current economic overview,
Carney supplied Cabarrus
Magazine with the EDC’s 2017 Year in Review. It says, “The EDC responded to 135
RFIs (requests for information) and helped announce 1,232 jobs and new tax
investment of almost $500 million. In addition, through our existing industry
program, we made 149 visits (unique and follow-up) with industry.”

Activity in 2017 included expansions of
Intertape Polymer Corp. ($13.5-million investment) that brought in 10 new jobs
and Corning ($109-million investment), creating 200 new jobs. New projects were
Concord Airport Business Park, JJ Haines, Amazon, TPA Group and Classic
Graphics. Combined, they contributed $125.9 million in investment.

Thus far in 2018, iFLY Indoor Skydiving
has secured a location in Cabarrus County. Located in the Concord Mills corridor,
it will open later this year. Its $10-million investment will bring about 26
jobs to the county. And PreGel America is expanding; its investment is $14.4
million.

In addition, permitted new investment
totaled $33.4 million in January compared to $8.2 million a year ago. February
2018 totaled $13 million compared to $3.9 million a year ago.

The EDC has compiled categories of
target industries it feels would be a good fit in Cabarrus County. They include
aerospace, back office (administration and support personnel who are not
client-facing), food & beverage, logistics and motorsports/automotive.

One of the EDC’s services is workforce
development. In light of that, according to its website, it heads up or
partners with the following initiatives:

• Cabarrus Industrial Council: “An open
forum to identify industry concerns or share ideas that you believe would be
helpful to your peers in manufacturing and distribution. Cabarrus Industrial
Council meets on a quarterly basis.”

• The North Carolina Manufacturing
Institute: “Conceived in the summer of 2014 during meetings with leaders from
Rowan and Cabarrus counties from both chambers of commerce, economic
development authorities, the Centralina Workforce Development Board and
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. In 2016, Iredell County and Mitchell
Community College joined as partners.

“The North Carolina Manufacturing
Institute is a response to employers’ need for solving talent recruitment
issues in order to grow and remain competitive. This initiative builds a clear
and achievable pathway for people to acquire those skills in order to access
good jobs in local communities. Manufacturing firms will benefit from
partnering with the North Carolina Manufacturing Institute through access to a
pipeline of screened, trained, certified production technicians who can help
them achieve their business goals.

• Public High School Career Academies:
“Cabarrus Economic Development serves on the advisory board of the Advanced
Manufacturing & Automation Academy at Jay M. Robinson High School. This
involvement has increased our exposure to the various academies and joint
conversations between industry needs and educators.”

• Go Bold: “Go Bold exists to encourage
women in Cabarrus County to learn about challenging and rewarding career
opportunities that they may not have considered. We know that local employers
have job openings and they are looking for diversity in their workplace. They
want to hire talented women in full-time roles, offering good wages and benefit
packages with potential for advancement.”

For more information about Cabarrus
Economic Development Corporation, call 704-782-4000.

Article By: Kim Cassell

Photos Courtesy: Atrium Health and S&D Coffee

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